Commercial scans of 4x5

[Ed Richards]

As far as I can tell, there are no good scanning resources for 4x5 in the great state of Louisiana. (Nor is there film or anything else - everyone else must be nature photographers doing 35mm.) I am looking for a mail order lab to scan 4x5, preferably at pretty large file sizes - scan once is a lot more important when you have to send it away. Cost is a factor, I want to be able to get more than 1 scan a year. Since I use b&w negatives and a little color negative material, I do not need really high dmax, so a drum scan is not necessary.

[Bruce Watson]

I do not need really high dmax, so a drum scan is not necessary.

Maybe, maybe not. Dmax isn't everything. It depends on how much of an enlargement you are planing as the top end of your scan-once-use-many strategy. While CCD scanners improve constantly, PMTs are still the sharpest thing around. Also, you shouldn't arbitrarily discount the value of wet mounting tightly around a ridgid drum.

The rule of thumb I use is comsumer flat bed scans are OK for enlargements up to about 4x. Pro CCDs (flat beds and Imacons) are good for enlargements up to about 6-7x. From 8x up, I think drum scans are without question the way to go. This is a rule of thumb - YMMV.

That's not to say that you won't see a differerence in scans from a consumer flat bed and a drum scanner at 4x. It's that the difference is small enough that the flat bed scan can be exceptable for most prints in that enlargement range.

I drum scan my 4x5 Tri-X (the negatives that get past the light table anyway). I scan to 11x enlargement (so I have some room to crop if needed). I've made some prints from these scans up to 1.25x1.0 m (about 50x40 inches) that are "nose sharp" which is just what I was aiming for. I'm not saying this is something other people should aim for - it's just what I do.

If you are going to send film out for scanning (CCD or drum), do talk to the people first and find out if they have a clue about scanning B&W negatives as opposed to scanning color positives. Send out the same negative to several labs and look at the results closely because some scanner-software-operator combinations are better than others, particularly for negatives, especially B&W negatives.

[chris jordan]

My two favorite places for scanning are below; they are where I send all of my own work for scanning (and this choice was made after having test scans made at labs all over the country):

Bob Cornelis, in Sebastopol, California (www.colorfolio.com), and Mark Doyle at AutumnColor near Boston (www.autumncolor.com). Both are impeccably careful about cleaning and mounting the originals (which is half the battle with a drum scanner), and they take the time to get the scans looking gorgeous. I highly recommend either one.

~cj

www.chrisjordan.com

[Ed Richards]

Thanks Chris! Your images are a strong endorsement of the quality of their work.

[Ed Richards]

Did find one company in New Orleans that does scanning: Garrison Digital Color.